Very little of what used to be the 106 foot-high San Clemente dam is left.

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In its place is a pile of concrete rubble, and behind that is a construction project that step by step is restoring natural fish and wildlife habitat along the Carmel River.

On Friday, key players who helped to make the project a reality toured the project area. The group included representatives from the California Coastal Conservancy, California American Water, The California Wildlife Conservation Board and NOAA as well as state Sen. Bill Monning and state Secretary of Natural Resources John Laird.

"Enormous undertaking; you've got to come out here to see it to really appreciate the magnitude of the earth moving," said Sam Schuchat with the California Coastal Conservancy.

Crews have cut a new river channel and built a dike using sediment built up behind the dam to block the old channel as part of the restoration project.

The decision to remove it came after the dam was determined to be a risk to the public in the event of a flood or earthquake and many in the community felt it was better to get rid of it than to fortify it.

"It really is a project that meets so many different needs -- deals with the silt, deals with the fish, deals with water quality," said Laird.

The removal and restoration is an $84 million project that has been funded from many sources.

"It's on schedule and pretty much on budget for the most part, which is really a good," said Cal Am President Robert MacLean about the progress being made.

The project was largely funded by ratepayers -- Cal Am users are footing $49 million of the bill. The other about $34 million is coming from state, federal and private funds.